Optical pulse or signal handling systems employing arrays are not of much use unless at each cross point thereof there is provided switching or reconfiguring of optical input signals so that they can be switched, changed, modulated, reconfigured, multiplexed, or otherwise transformed to provide optical output pulses in different arrangements as may be needed by system designers.
The capability to change--e.g., switch or reconfigure or selectively bypass/exchange optical paths or interconnections between elements in successive arrays of elements is important for the routing of data to different processors in optical pipeline structures and in digital cross-connect switching ("DACS") operations in optical communications, where N.times.N cross bar or cross point switching is need to route data to different locations.
A significant problem associated with optical interconnection systems is the space required to bend light beams or fiberoptics around corners. In large scale optical data processing systems, this space problem can be formidable. This problem is overcome by the present invention which affords substantial space-saving in optical interconnection and switching systems.